Outpost Bio Raises $3.5M pre-seed to Build Frontier Models for Human Microbiology

Outpost Bio Raises $3.5M pre-seed to Build Frontier Models for Human Microbiology

Deep-tech company makes human microbiology computable to improve intervention outcomes

LONDON & BOSTON [March 2, 2026] — Outpost Bio, a company decoding the hidden interactions that drive human biology, today announced a $3.5 million pre-seed funding round co-led by Merantix Capital and Seedcamp, with participation from OpenSeed VC, Defined, and strategic family offices and angel investors.

Human microbiology is the study of how microbial communities living in and on our bodies metabolize drugs, transform nutrients, and shape health outcomes. It is one of the most complex and data-rich fields in biology, and R&D teams struggle to translate this complexity into actionable insights.

While most biological frontier models are built around parts encoded in human DNA, real biology emerges from interactions across multiple systems. Outpost Bio’s platform addresses this gap: building frontier models at the interaction layer that focus on human microbiology.

Lab-in-the-Loop: From Data to Discovery

Outpost Bio's Lab-in-the-Loop platform integrates automated experimentation with machine learning, creating a closed feedback loop in which models learn from experiments and guide what is tested next. This approach generates proprietary, human-derived functional data at scale, helping pharma partners de-risk clinical development, design safer formulations, and build regulatory evidence. Beyond pharma, food and consumer companies can test how prebiotics, botanicals, and other ingredients reshape microbial communities.

"We're building the most comprehensive dataset in human microbiology," said Dr. Jenny Yang, Co-Founder and CEO of Outpost Bio. "Microbial communities can dramatically alter drugs and other interventions, yet this layer has been largely ignored because the data hasn't existed at scale. For the first time, we can move beyond correlations to reveal causal pathways."

A World-Class Founding Team

Outpost Bio is led by Dr. Jenny Yang, an Oxford PhD and former Marie Curie Fellow with a background in clinical machine learning, and Alex Merwin, Co-Founder and COO, former Head of Growth for Health & Bio Startups at AWS. The founding team includes Dr. Heidi Arjes (VP of R&D, 20 years in microbiology across academia/industry), Dr. Saif Ur-Rehman (Director of Data Engineering, first engineering hire at Basecamp Research), and Dr. Neythen Treloar (Principal ML Scientist, expertise in microbial foundation models). Advisors include Anna Marie Wagner (former Head of AI, Ginkgo Bioworks), Dr. Steven Jones (Scientific Director, Genome Sciences Centre), and Dr. Brad Ringeisen (former Director, DARPA Biological Technologies Office).

“This is a rare team that combines deep microbiology, machine learning, and company-building experience,” said Tom Wilson, Partner at Seedcamp. “Jenny, Alex, and the founding team have both the scientific rigor and operational insight required to build a new layer of biological infrastructure.”

“What took decades to build for earlier biological models can now be achieved in years,” said Adrian Locher, Co-Founder and General Partner at Merantix Capital. “Faster wet-lab data generation, lower sequencing costs, and more powerful machine learning make this the right moment to build predictive models of the microbes that live within and on us.”

The funding will accelerate Outpost Bio’s experimental and modeling platforms, unlocking new ways to design drugs, ingredients, and consumer health products.

About Outpost Bio

Outpost Bio is decoding the hidden interactions that drive human biology. The company combines high-throughput assays of human-derived microbial communities with machine learning to build frontier models that reveal causal pathways—not just correlations. Headquartered in Boston and London, the company enables any partner developing molecules that go into or onto humans to predict microbe-mediated metabolism, toxicity, and response — making human microbiology computable for the first time. For more information, visit www.outpost.bio.